About ICOYC Forums

The key event in the calendar of the Council is the ICOYC World Forums (previously referred to as Commodores' Forums) which occur every twelve to eighteen months. The venues are generally rotated between continents and each Forum is seen as a prestigious event for the host yacht club. In addition the Council holds periodic shorter regional conferences, usually stretching over a weekend.

There are also informal, unstructured benefits arising from membership of the Council. The ICOYC Forums and other events give the leadership groups of leading yacht clubs the chance to meet and forge new friendships that can be very productive. This is partly because of the similarities between the clubs involved, and partly because all the delegates have had similar yachting and club-management experiences. They are often seeking new ways to meet the expectations of their club members.

Each ICOYC World Forum is an important occasion for its member clubs. The ICOYC Board of Directors selects the host clubs well in advance, often because they are celebrating some anniversary or major event that year. The Board also ensures that Forums are held in different parts of the world to facilitate delegates’ travel so far as possible.

The programme for each Forum is developed jointly by the host club and the ICOYC Officers and Board. It takes into account the issues raised each year in an annual survey of the ICOYC clubs’ Commodores concerns. Reference to these surveys will be found in Newsletters and Archived News in the Library of this website – the full details remain confidential.

There are often distinguished guest speakers at the World Forums. The host club may also invite yacht clubs that are not members if they are likely to make a contribution and have not been to a Forum previously. They are all asked to respect any confidences that are shared by other delegates.

Participants in the World' Forums are mainly current Flag Officers of ICOYC clubs – Commodores/ Presidents, Vice Commodores/ Vice Presidents and Rear Commodores. Past Flag Officers who have already taken part in ICOYC events are welcome to join in again and share their wisdom. Indeed, we now find that it is often the past Flag Officers who have enough time available to help guide the ICOYC itself. We also welcome Club General Managers and other senior staff members, and those Board or General Committee members of ICOYC clubs who are likely to take on wider responsibilities in the future.

After each Forum we now prepare full Proceedings, transcribing each talk or Q & A exchange so that we have a full record. Access to these Proceedings is reserved for nominated members, but so far as possible useful summaries are made available on this website and in the ICOYC newsletter. Presentations from past Forums are available for logged-in ICOYC Members in the appropriate entry in Forums/Past World Forums.